Blog Category: NEI

Exports are critical to the U.S economy. They fuel economic growth in our communities, support good middle class jobs, and unlock opportunity for American companies, entrepreneurs, farmers, ranchers, and workers, enabling U.S. companies to compete in the growing global marketplace. By selling Made-in-America goods and services to international customers, U.S. businesses – including small and medium-sized and minority- and women-owned businesses – are able to grow faster, hire more employees, pay higher wages, and help spread American ideas, innovation and values.

Recognizing the many opportunities exports create for our economy, U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker today announced that the Obama Administration will build on the success of the National Export Initiative (NEI) by launching NEI/NEXT: a new customer service-driven strategy with improved information resources that will ensure American businesses are fully able to capitalize on expanded opportunities to sell their goods and services abroad. NEI/NEXT will help more American companies reach more overseas markets by improving data, providing information on specific export opportunities, working more closely with financing organizations and service providers, and partnering with states and communities to empower local export efforts.

In 2010, President Obama launched the National Export Initiative (NEI), a comprehensive government-wide effort to help U.S. companies increase exports, expand into new markets, and compete globally. Under the NEI, the United States has had four straight record-breaking years of exports – hitting an all-time high of $2.3 trillion dollars last year – up $700 billion from 2009. A new economic report released today by the Department of Commerce, shows that nearly one-third of the country’s economic growth since mid-2009 has been driven by exports. Nearly 30,000 businesses have started exporting for the first time. And most importantly, since 2009, the number of jobs supported by exports has grown by 1.6 million to more than 11.3 million – the highest in 20 years.

Even with all this success, far too many American companies remain focused on domestic markets. Less than 5 percent of U.S. companies export, and more than half of those exporters sell to only one market. To help bridge that gap, and look for new opportunities to help U.S. businesses export, the Department of Commerce, along with 20 federal agency partners last year began to take a fresh look at the NEI. This interagency group solicited extensive stakeholder feedback and incorporated lessons learned under the NEI, to develop an economic growth strategy that would help make trade a central part of America’s economic DNA. The end product of that interagency review, NEI/NEXT will take the NEI strategy to next level by institutionalizing our progress from the past four years and serving as a framework to guide the development of new, innovative initiatives.

NEI/NEXT will be implemented through the Export Promotion Cabinet and Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC), which consists of representatives from 20 federal departments and agencies with export-related programs. The Secretary of Commerce chairs the TPCC.

Today, Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker announced NEI/NEXT – a
data-based, customer service-driven initiative to ensure that more
American businesses can fully capitalize on markets that are opening up
around the world. Through five core objectives, NEI/NEXT will build on
Administration-wide achievements under the National Export Initiative
(NEI), to help all businesses reach the 95 percent of consumers who live
outside the United States.

If you missed her speech, below is a collection of tweets from her account and audience members that summarizes her remarks.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker concluded her
two-day “Commerce in the Valley” tour on Tuesday showcasing the value and vast resources
of the Commerce Department to entrepreneurs and business leaders in Northern
California. As the voice of business in
the Administration, Pritzker met with innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders
within Silicon Valley to discuss the Department of Commerce’s “Open for
Business Agenda,”
and the three key areas that will keep America competitive and strong: trade
and investment, innovation, and data.

Secretary Pritzker made a number of site visits during
her tour of Silicon Valley including Facebook, Google, eBay and PayPal showing
the Department's strong commitment to spurring U.S. economic growth, through
innovation, and competitiveness. On day two of her visit, Secretary Pritzker
participated in an Innovation Ecosystem breakfast hosted by Tech for America,
where she heard from budding entrepreneurs on the next generation of innovative
ideas and discussed the importance of intellectual property (IP) protection and
patent reform.

Following the breakfast, Secretary Pritzker traveled to
Google where she met with executives and discussed trade and investment and
ways the Commerce Department can further help companies export their goods and
services abroad.

Secretary Pritzker concluded her day at eBay and PayPal
where she met with three eBay sellers, Chris Ko, Owner, Nationwide Surplus and
ER2 Electronic Recycling; Nate Victor, CEO, Sonic Electrolux; and Nick Martin,
Founder, The Pro's Closet. She discussed with each of these business leaders
what global opportunities and resources we have at the Department of Commerce
that can help them increase exports to foreign markets and expand their
business footprint. Secretary Pritzker
later joined eBay Inc. CEO John Donahoe in announcing a partnership to promote
U.S. exports and trade. This partnership
will advance the Obama Administration’s National Export Initiative, an ambitious plan
to sell more American goods and services into foreign markets.

Mr. Donahoe was appointed by President Obama to the President’s
Export Council (PEC) in December 2013. This partnership comes
on the heels of a U.S. Department of Commerce announcement
that U.S. exports in 2013 set a new record for the fourth straight year. U.S. exports reached $2.3 trillion in 2013,
up nearly $700 billion since 2009.

Four years ago, President Obama made export promotion a national priority, launching the National Export Initiative to renew and revitalize American exports.

That initiative is working. Today, the Department of Commerce announced that for the fourth year in a row, the United States has set a record for annual exports. Total U.S. exports for 2013 reached $2.3 trillion.

There were record highs in both goods and services exports. Goods exports totaled 1.58 trillion, with records in a number of important sectors, including industrial supplies, consumer goods, and capital goods.

Service exports hit an all-time high of $682 billion, with records in several major service sectors. Travel and tourism was one record sector, as international visitors contributed $139 billion to the American economy.

Mexico was a particularly bright spot for U.S. exporters, as we saw a 4.7 percent increase to $226 billion in exports to our southern neighbor. Commerce Secretary Pritzker is currently leading a business development mission in Mexico, helping even more American companies find new opportunities and qualified business partners in one of our most important export markets.

Promoting trade and
investment is a major part of Secretary
Pritzker’s “Open for Business Agenda.”
Nationwide, America’s businesses are exporting: the United States hit a record
$2.2 trillion dollars in exports last year, up $600 billion dollars from 2009
when President Obama launched his National Export Initiative. Lake Shore
Cryotronics, for example, generates 60 percent of sales from exports. Nearly 10
million U.S. jobs are now supported by exports, up 1.3 million since 2009. But
the United States still under-exports, which is why the Secretary is gearing up
to launch NEI 2.0, which will aim to help more U.S. companies sell their goods
and services to more markets around the world.

In order to achieve greater economic growth and create
more good jobs, Secretary Pritzker talked about the need to attract more
foreign investment to the United States. According to Columbus 2020, an
economic development organization for the 11-county Columbus Region, about
39,000 people in Central Ohio are employed by foreign-owned companies. But as
of 2011, 5.6 million jobs nationwide million jobs are supported by foreign
direct investment, supporting
$437.8 billion in wages to U.S. employees. Global
businesses want to be here in the United States because of our stable rule of law, intellectual property
protections, solid financial markets,
world-class universities, strong consumer base, and
our low-cost and abundant energy. That is why President Obama launched SelectUSA at the
Commerce Department in 2011. SelectUSA has been working with foreign CEOs and
economic development groups across the country to put even more deals in the
pipeline.

Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker today outlined a bold new policy agenda for the Department of Commerce, centered on U.S. trade and investment, innovation, and data. This “Open for Business” Agenda reflects the department’s role as the voice of business, and the Obama Administration’s focus on economic growth and job creation. Additionally, this new vision recognizes the demands of a globally competitive economy.

Among the new initiatives Secretary Pritzker announced are a revitalized National Export Initiative, an enhanced and expanded program to attract foreign investment, a first-of-its-kind, Commerce effort to ensure skills training programs meet industry needs, and a focus on public-private partnerships that enable businesses and communities to make better use of government data.

Secretary Pritzker also committed to leading a robust environmental agenda at Commerce, and to ensuring that operational excellence and public accountability are top priorities of departmental leadership.

Claudia Easton is an intern in the International Trade
Administration’s Office of the National Export Initiative and Trade
Promotion Coordinating Committee. She’s studying Economics and Political
Science at Amherst College. Cross-posted from Tradeology.

With the President’s recent trip
to Senegal, Tanzania and South Africa, as well as the announcement of
two new trade initiatives, the spotlight is on Africa – and with good
reason.

While speaking at the Business Leaders Forum in Tanzania, President Obama spoke of beginning a new level of economic engagement with Africa. The Doing Business in Africa Campaign
(DBIA) is part of the president’s strategy, and the International Trade
Administration (ITA) is proud to join other government agencies to
support DBIA initiatives that are helping U.S. businesses compete on
the continent.

Trade Africa
aims to facilitate expanded trade on the continent. Its initial focus
will be on the East African Community (EAC), a market with increasingly
stable and pro-business regulations. The plan will support increased
U.S.-EAC trade and investment, EAC trade competitiveness, and regional
integration. The United States seeks to expand this initiative to other
regional economic communities on the continent.

Power Africa
is intended to build on Africa’s enormous power potential to expand
electricity access to the more than two-thirds of the population that is
without power. The President pledged $7 billion in U.S. government
support, in addition to $9 billion in private money, over the next five
years to double access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa. Power
Africa will help attract investment in Africa’s energy sector, build
capacity for reform in the energy sector, and encourage transparent and
responsible natural resource management.

Today
is the first full day of the trade mission and Acting Secretary Blank will
participate in a roundtable with Brazilian CEOs to discuss possible areas for collaboration
with U.S. businesses, particularly in the area of infrastructure. This
discussion serves as a follow-up to the U.S.-Brazil
CEO Forum, which Acting Secretary Blank co-chaired along with Deputy
National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs Michael Froman in
Brasilia in March.

On
Tuesday, Acting Secretary Blank will meet with members of the Federation of
Industries of Sao Paulo (FIESP), a Brazilian industry association that includes
more than 130,000 companies representing a wide range of industrial activities.
The Acting Secretary will highlight U.S. businesses’ efforts to support
Brazil’s infrastructure development goals and connect U.S. and Brazilian firms
to explore further procurement opportunities. She will also visit Embraer while in Sao Paulo, to highlight a
Brazilian company that has invested in America and created U.S. jobs. Embraer
has also worked with many suppliers in the U.S. and has strong partnerships
with a variety of U.S. companies.

The trade mission will support President Obama’s National Export Initiative, a government-wide strategy to promote American exports and create 2 million export-supported jobs by the end of 2014. Last year, exports hit another all-time record, reaching $2.2 trillion. And, between 2009 and 2012 exports have supported 1.3 million additional jobs.

The mission will also highlight the successes in the U.S. trade relationships with Colombia and Panama, specifically, since free trade agreements with each country have taken effect. The Deputy Secretary and the business delegation will be in Colombia on the one-year anniversary of the implementation of that Free Trade Agreement (FTA), May 15.

The
mission will include export-ready U.S. firms in a broad range of leading U.S.
infrastructure and industrial sectors, with an emphasis on project management
(including construction, architecture and design), transportation (including
road/highways, rail, airports, and intelligent transportation systems), energy
(including distribution, transmission, and smart grid), water resources
management (including water treatment, distribution and collection), and safety
and security. The mission will help U.S. businesses in initiating or expanding
exports to Brazil, Colombia and Panama by making business-to-business
introductions, providing market access information, and facilitating access to
government decision makers.

“We should remember that today’s world presents not just dangers, not just threats—it presents opportunity.” This statement from President Obama’s State of the Union speech confirms the belief that free trade and open markets are a benefit in our globalized world.

In Louisville, Ky., this belief is nothing new, as the town has been growing its economy by focusing on exporting to foreign markets.

That is why I joined Mayor Greg Fischer in Louisville to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the International Trade Administration (ITA) and the City of Louisville in a team effort to improve local exports. Congressman John Yarmuth (KY-3) also joined us to celebrate this exciting new partnership and highlight what this means for the community.

Our new MOU extends the success we have seen through the Bluegrass Economic Advancement Movement (BEAM), a joint venture between the mayors of Louisville and Lexington, designed to support the growth of high-quality jobs in advanced manufacturing throughout a 22-county region.

BEAM is a particularly exceptional achievement because it is the realization of the National Export Initiative (NEI) localized through the Brookings Institute’s Metropolitan Export Initiative (MEI). It represents a way in which cities and towns can engage in international trade to reap the benefits of increased exports.Together, these initiatives are all working in concert to increase U.S. exports.